Dibaba takes Games gold

THE FIRST gold medal on the track inside the Olympic Stadium at London 2012 was decided tonight (August 3) as Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba was victorious in the 10,000m.

The 26-year-old finished in a time of 30 minutes, 20.76 seconds as Kenya duo Sally Kipyego and Vivian Cheruiyot took silver and bronze respectively.

In what was a tactical battle between Ethiopia and Kenya, there was an injection of pace from Dibaba’s compatriot Wernesh Kidane with seven laps to go which saw a group of 10 whittled down to six and eventually only four racers remained at the front.

Kidane, however, eventually fell off the back of that quartet as Cheruiyot and Kipeygo attempted to outrun Dibaba.

But despite their best efforts Dibaba took to the lead with 550m remaining and the Kenyans had no response to the four-time world champion’s sudden surge of pace.

Now a three-time Olympic gold medallist, Dibaba is arguably the greatest female long distance runner of all-time and might decide to also run in the heats of the women’s 5,000m, which begin on August 7.